


Photographs and Memories

by Babygirl_Francesca



Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Cute, Feel-good, M/M, kinda sad sometimes tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-19 15:08:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16536962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Babygirl_Francesca/pseuds/Babygirl_Francesca
Summary: Daryl works through some of the pain of losing Rick. One-shot.





	Photographs and Memories

Coming to terms with what had happened took Daryl a long time, almost five years if he remembered correctly. As the seasons changed, Judith grew and Daryl lost sight of Rick's willfulness in her eyes as Shane's features took over. As the communities grew, Daryl lost sight of Rick in the shifting politics. As the people around him changed to the point that Daryl could barely recognize them, he lost sight of Rick in the healthy glow of growth.

Things weren't bad since Rick had been gone, but Daryl had been living in a bubble of somber, away from the bustling activities of those around him.

After Rick had died, Daryl had searched up and down the banks of the river, canvassed almost the entire forest in the simple hope that he would find so much as a remnant, a casing from his revolver, a bloody rag from his wound. But Daryl never did, and eventually he had to accept that Rick was truly gone.

After Rick had died Daryl boiled over. He was short tempered, he wouldn't accept counsel, he didn't want anyone to talk to him. They all just made him so  _angry._ They don't make him angry anymore though, and eventually he had to accept that his anger wasn't helping him.

After Rick had died Daryl had talked for hours on end with Gabriel, wanting to know why God had taken him, and why God couldn't give him back to them. He understood that Rick was never coming back, and eventually had to stop bargaining.

After Rick had died, Daryl grew so depressed and reclusive that he evaded his own friends for a long time, he had been gone both mentally and physically. He'd found a cabin near the old bridge, now completed, and stayed there. Over a year went by and Daryl didn't see anyone. He'd heard the distant sound of voices and in turn retreated into him new home. He'd had Carol banging on his door and in turn he shut all the lights out. He'd had walkers almost overrun him and in turn he'd locked inside his new home.

That didn't last forever though. It was soon that Daryl missed his communities, he missed the people that he'd cared about so dearly. He was still raw when he walked back to Alexandria, still too emotionally fragile to look at Judith as Michonne had taken him into her arms and held him as they both cried again, cried for memories lost, and memories they would never have.

He knew that he couldn't be absent from Judith forever though, his year long absence had taken a toll on her and it had taken Daryl nearly as long to regain the little ones trust.

It took him even longer to regain Carol's.

But no matter how much time went by, how many windmills were built, crops sowed, and babies born, Daryl still hadn't moved on.

He was depressed, there was no way around it. He couldn't accept Rick's death with the heavy cloak of despair weighing his shoulders into the cold ground where Daryl knew Rick lay.

Something had to be done. Daryl had been a productive member of society since his return to it, but he had been emotionally vacant.

Everyday new people joined their community, new people who had no idea the person who sacrificed to lead them here, to create, and to build unity.

So one day, scavenging in the public offices of Washington DC, Daryl had found a five hundred page notebook and a pack of gel pens that still wrote, and he shoved them into his backpack, hastily, not wanting to see.

When he'd arrived home to Alexandria he sat in his old home, Michonne asleep in the next room, and Judith watching a princess movie powered by the solar grid, he brought the notebook out of his backpack and opened a pen.

On the first page, in the nicest handwriting he had, Daryl wrote: RICK GRIMES.

* * *

"Daryl!" Carol exclaimed as he rode through the fences of the Kingdom, finally conquering his fear of horses when his motorcycle had been completely broken.

"Hey Carol." He answered and dismounted, dust pluming under his boots.

Carol was older now, he was too. She wasn't the fragile bird that he'd first met in the countryside of Atlanta, walking in the shadow of her husband. Today she walked in line with her husband, they were equal in every sense of the word.

"To what do I owe the unexpected visit?" She asked as one of the Kingdom aids took the reigns of his horse and tied it up near the fence. Carol motioned for him to follow her, Daryl followed blindly.

"I'm writing a book." He said, short and pithy. It had been a while since he'd seen Carol. The last time he'd kept it together, but the time before that he'd cried in her arms, wishing that he could just leave his life behind again. She was worried about him, he could tell.

"A book." She repeated, as if testing the words on her tongue. "What about?"

"Rick. His life." He responded and Carol faltered for a moment in her walking. That's what always happened when Rick's name was brought up around those that really knew him.

His name was worse than any curse word. It could turn Michonne completely silent, Maggie into a fit of tears and regret, Rosita into an uncontrollable rage, Eugene into a trance of working and forgetting, Tara into awkward and uncomfortable humor, Gabriel stumbling to his parish, and Carol back into that fragile bird that she once was.

She didn't respond, so Daryl continued. "There's books on all the greats. Biographies, lessons on history, Rick  _is_ our history and we can't forget him. I need this, I need him to be immortalized not just for myself but for all the communities. No one besides you and I know everything that he had been through. Glenn knew more, but he's not here anymore."

They stopped together, in the middle of the bustling streets of the Kingdom. People politely side stepped them out of respect. Carol was basically their queen and Daryl was co-leader of Alexandria, they were important people.

The communities were busy recently as there was going to be a festival in a months time, all of them would come together and celebrate, Daryl didn't really know what there was to celebrate.

Carol's lips twitched to the side and Daryl could tell that she was trying to hold back tears around so many of her people. Carol's eyes glistened and she took both of his hands into her own, squeezing them tightly. "I love you Daryl. You know that?" She asked him, looking up into his muddy eyes.

"I know Carol."

"I'm so glad you're doing this. It might just be what this community needs to move on."

* * *

_RICK GRIMES_

_From the moment Rick Grimes woke up from his coma in the King County Hospital, he had one goal in mind: to find his family._

_The first person to encounter Rick was Morgan Jones, a pivotal member in the war against the Saviors who disappeared after the fact. Carol Peletier and I can both say that we knew Rick from the beginning, but Morgan honestly and truly knew Rick from day one._

_The next person that Rick met was a young man named Glenn Rhee, deceased husband of Maggie Rhee and father of Hershel Rhee. In Rick's first meeting with Glenn, Glenn saved him from certain death. A complete stranger Rick was to Glenn, but that was just the kind of man Glenn Rhee was._

_Rick, having only just been in the world as we know it for days, a week at the most, then saved Glenn and a group of four other survivors who had been trapped in a department store. One of the men that he saved in that operation he would come to meet again as a Savior, fighting to kill Rick and what he stood for. I was there that day, that Morales, the man Rick and I knew from the Atlanta countryside, drew on him. Rick was never going to kill him, he cursed for firing on Morales, Rick didn't want to believe that one of the first men he had saved could have turned so horribly against him. But Rick Grimes saves everyone._

_Glenn knew that Rick was looking for him family, but he insisted that he come back with them to their group. The Atlanta group on the outskirts of the city by a huge quarry, that only two of us are still alive from. Glenn told me that he didn't think Rick would have stayed in the group had his family not been there._

_Lori Grimes, Rick's deceased wife. Shane Walsh, Rick's deceased ex-partner. And Carl Grimes, Rick's son who saved Alexandria during the war against the Saviors. Rick found him family._

_But he didn't stay with them long. He made a trip back into Atlanta, the most dangerous place he could be just a day or to later. Back when Rick was saving Glenn and the other group my own brother Merle Dixon had gotten himself handcuffed to a pipe by Rick, and then another member of the group lost the key. Rick would never have left Merle up there to die, but he hadn't been able to stop it, so he decided to go back to Atlanta with Glenn and I on a high flying rescue mission._

_Rick Grimes, after I had cussed him out for leaving my brother on a roof, left his own family to find a bag of guns he'd left in the street and a racist he'd left on a roof._

_We didn't find my brother that day, but that day I did see the integrity of Rick Grimes for the first time._

* * *

**The Atlanta Group just arriving at the CDC, Daryl's memory.**

Things weren't amazing living underground, but Daryl could appreciate the warm showers, free flowing alcohol, and air that didn't smell like rotting bodies.

He felt alone in this group, but sitting around the table eating a meal with them, he almost, kinda, sorta, felt like he could become one of them. Dale was nice to him and seemed to rely on him and Rick was a good man, even if he had left his good for nothing brother for dead.

Daryl was aware that some people in the group didn't like him. Lori seemed like she didn't want him around her son, which was understandable. Shane seemed like he didn't trust Daryl, which was also completely understandable.

After they'd all finished dinner they'd had rooms of their own. Daryl took a moment to himself to have a long shower, finally getting months worth of grime really off of himself. His clothes were still dirty as all hell, but he didn't mind those as long as his skin was clean. When he cleaned up he mused through a book for a moment but he'd never been a fan of reading, and he was a little too tipsy to keep his vision straight.

More alcohol sounded good right about then. Daryl wanted to get honestly and truly smashed. So drunk that maybe he could actually get a good nights sleep that he'd been craving so terribly. At the moment he was still at the point where his memories would haunt him until it was time to get out of bed.

The lights were off down the hallway as he went back towards where he knew the kitchen was, and where more beer would be.

A single light was on at the end of the hallway and Daryl followed it until he was in the kitchen, the light was the refrigerator as Rick Grimes stood in front of it, trying to decide on another beer or not.

"Not drunk enough?" Daryl asked and slid up next to him at the fridge, waiting his turn to grab another one. They'd finished the bottles of wine, and the beer was a little flat but still drinkable.

"Not nearly." Rick mused. He seemed quieter than usual, a little somber almost as he finally grabbed one and then handed another to Daryl. "Wanna sit for a moment?" Rick asked and Daryl was surprised by the request. They weren't exactly drinking buddies, not like he would assume Rick and Shane were, but still Daryl took a seat at the table next to Rick like they were at a bar.

Daryl cracked his open and took a long sip, gulping at least a third of it in one go. "So what's keeping you up Sheriff Friendly?" Daryl asked, finally taking a deep breath and setting his beer down.

Rick was still just toying with his, not breaking the lid yet.

Finally, after a very long pause Rick cracked his and took a sip, pondering for a moment longer before answering. "I just don't know if I made the right choice bringing us here. Maybe Fort Benning would have been the best option."

Daryl was definitely not drunk enough to deal with a situation like that so he took another long sip. "There's no rules anymore, no right or wrong choices. Hell, no one even had to follow you here, they just  _did_ and that's on them if this place goes to shit."

Rick glanced over at Daryl. "Not exactly making me feel any better."

"That's what the beer if for." Daryl retorted and urged Rick to drink some more. Daryl was already halfway done with his and Rick desperately needed to catch up.

To Daryl's chagrin, Rick actually laughed at that and then tipped his beer back.

They were sitting in almost complete darkness save for the numbers illuminated on the microwave, but Daryl could hope that he was making Rick's dour facial expressions light up a bit.

"I would suck at leading this group. We're lucky to have you." Daryl finished his drink and tossed it, going to the fridge. Their were four left, two more for each of them and Daryl grabbed Rick another one as well, a subtle urge for him to finish his first one.

"It's just because I was a cop." Rick shrugged and finished his as well, tossing it into the trashcan about three feet away, pretty damn good for something throwing it in the dark. "And you have good instincts, you wouldn't be so bad."

"Uh yeah, I'll leave the leading to you and Shane, and you guys can leave the squirrel catching to me." He countered, Rick chuckled again and opened his next beer.

"Maybe the beer is making me feel a little better." Rick gulped this can, seemingly going for a world record of how quickly he could drink it.

"Only thing that could take this from good to great is a little karaoke." Daryl was pretty drunk now. The combination of the wine and beer was just enough to make him say some ridiculous things.

Rick finished the second beer and for a moment Daryl thought Rick was going to throw up, but then he let out a full bellied laugh and Daryl had to shush him so he wouldn't wake everyone else up.

"Shut up, we don't want to have to share the good." Daryl warned and slowly finished his can as well before grabbing the last two from the fridge.

"Our last hurrah." Rick mused and rolled that can in his hand. He couldn't see the label in the dim light, but Rick had read enough cans in his life to know the gist of what it would say.

"Fuck I gotta piss." Daryl muttered and got up again, but he was dizzier now and Rick had to reach out an arm to steady him.

"Don't fall in." Rick warned with a chuckle as Daryl stumbled to the nearby bathroom. His stomach had to make room for more liquid.

When he was done, Rick was drinking his last beer. Well actually, he was standing up, and shotgunning it. If there was something that Daryl Dixon never thought he'd see Sheriff Friendly do, was shotgun a beer.

"Dude you're showing me up." Daryl grunted and popped the tab on his beer. He'd never been great at shotgunning, and didn't really feel like it. Rick seemed like he needed it though and crushed the can between his hands before throwing it in the trash. Daryl tried to drink fast to catch up.

"Rick?" A voice called out sleepy and then the kitchen light was flicking on. Both of them shied away from the light and from Lori Grimes standing at the doorway with squinting eyes.

"Yeah, coming to bed soon." He responded and she turned to walk back down the hall, not bothering to turn the light off.

"Going to bed soon? We just got comfy." Daryl teased and finished his beer, leaning against the counter and feeling all of his blood rush to his head, making him very dizzy for a moment.

Rick steadied his gaze on Daryl for a moment and then stumbled a bit, having to grab onto Daryl's forearm. And then Rick grabbed onto both of Daryl's forearms and boxed the man against the counter.

In the moment Daryl had been entirely sure what was going to happen, only that it got interrupted by the sound of something thudding in one of the rooms.

Rick squeezed Daryl's forearms tightly for a moment and whispered "we'll have to do this again sometime." Before letting go and walking off to be with his wife.

Rick had left Daryl thoroughly perplexed.


End file.
